Astrophysics in Burkina Faso,
AfricaThe International Academic Research Journal Share On the African continent, most of the activities in astronomy are found in South Africa where full training
in astrophysics is given in a few universities and where most of the professional astronomers and research instruments can be found. In 2007, a full program (undergraduate and graduate) in astrophysics was started at the University of Ouagadougou. An observatory for teaching purposes was also built. In October 2009, the 1m Marly telescope from La Silla, Chile, was moved to Mount Djaogari in Burkina Faso,
Africa, where it will be a full research telescope. First light will be in early 2012.More

Space Science
Observatory and Research Center in EthiopiaCapital Ethiopia Share Apart from South Africa, the field of astronomy has been largely neglected on the African continent. Now however, two well-known Ethiopian natural locations Entoto and Lalibela will have the honor of hosting the best astronomical observatories and research centers in Sub-Saharan Africa. More

New images of starburst galaxy M 82 reveal multiple sources
of its superwindNational Astronomical Observatory of Japan Share Like human beings, galaxies and the stars within them have a life cycle: They are born, grow and mature, and eventually die. Starburst galaxies are real "baby boomers," creating new, young stars at a rate faster than the combined speed of many Milky Way-like galaxies that are in a later phase of development. The Subaru Telescope has produced a new image of the interior of the famous starburst galaxy Messier 82 that reveals young
star clusters in spectacular detail. The ultra-sharp image contributes to our understanding of this complex, young galaxy by showing that M 82's galactic windstorms emanate from many sites rather than from any single cluster of stars. More

Japanese high-energy physics facilities hit by the earthquakeThe Guardian Share Two major particle physics labs are a couple of hundred kilometers south of Sendai, Japan. The earthquake struck just before a seminar to announce the first T2K neutrino results. The T2K project focuses on long baseline neutrino oscillation, and attempts to measure the third type of neutrino oscillation. In the future, upgrades to T2K could lead to measuring the CP violation and could aid the search for an explanation as to why we don't see equal amounts of matter and antimatter. The Canadian T2K collaboration has post-quake pictures of the lab. Of course our thoughts are with all affected by this disaster.More

Understanding tsunami physicsAndrew Zimmerman Jones Share The science of the Japan earthquake is at once straight-forward and complex. One great resource for learning how a tsunami works is the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research, which has a lot of detailed information on the subject (including this graphic of the energy levels associated with the earthquake and how they spread out from the quake's epicenter). The NOAA Center for Tsunami Research has a page specifically dedicated to the Honshu event, which features a link to a great (and terrifying) animated video showing the movement of the waves throughout the Pacific Ocean.More

NIF achieves important step towards generating fusion energy using ultra-powerful lasersPhysics World Share By focusing NIF's 192 laser beams onto hollow gold cylinders that contain beryllium spheres that contain hydrogen isotopes, researchers have achieved the temperature and compression conditions that are needed for a self-sustaining fusion reaction. The laser beams generate X-rays that cause the beryllium spheres
to explode and, due to momentum conservation, the deuterium and tritium to rapidly compress. Due to the shock wave the hydrogen isotopes eventually overcome their mutual repulsion and fuse, releasing about 17 Mev.More

Doppler shift is seen in reversePhysics World Share Researchers in China and Australia have seen the more exotic inverse Doppler effect in light passing through a material made from tiny silicon rods. They say the result could enhance the use of the Doppler effect in all sorts of applications, from astronomy to medicine. The work is described in Nature Photonics.More

Africa making R&D progress despite snagsThe
Citizen Share A growing number of African countries have realized that without investment in science and technology, the continent will remain on the sidelines of the global economy and will find it difficult to bring an end to extreme poverty. There has been significant progress in terms of institutions and policy;
Africa contributes to the global research and development effort and this contribution is growing. These are some of the findings of the UNESCO Science Report, launched late last year at the organization's headquarters, to coincide with the World Science Day.More

Looking for new problems to solve? Consider the climateAmerican Physical Society Share Climate is not weather. "Climate is what we expect; weather is what we get." Climate is a problem of out-of-equilibrium statistical physics. Climate modeling tries to go from the first principle
equations, integrating them in space and time until reliable statistics are achieved. But there is a pressing need for improved theoretical frameworks and tools to better describe nonequilibrium statistical physics. More

Planetary core does affect climate, just not muchPlanet Save Share In a paper published in the Journal of Climate, American and French researchers explore the role of the Earth's rotation and movements in Earth's core affect global surface air temperatures. They combined data from a model of fluid movement within our planet's core and data on yearly averaged length-of-day
observations together with two time series of observed annual global average surface temperatures. They found that up to 1930 the surface air temperature matches on movements of Earth's core and the length of day. But after 1930 the data on Earth core movements, length of day and surface air temperature diverge. More